Towards a new third space mothering: motherhood and institutions in Cristina Garcia's "Dreaming in Cuban" and Ana Castillo's "So Far From God"

This project is an exploration of mothers and maternal relationships in two literary texts, Dreaming in Cuban and So Far From God. In this study, I build upon and complicate past and current maternal theories, using a term inspired by the theories of Gloria Anzaldúa, border mother. I identify and assert the need for an analysis of mothering that recognizes women who are affected by multiple intersections of race, class, and gender as inhabitants of border spaces. This project defines the term border mother and demonstrates its importance as a step in developing a new mothering. Specifically, I posit these texts, in their creation of space for new discussions of different types of mothering, as a factor in a longer, continual process towards changing patriarchal society and its effects on mothering.